In this study Zemore (2007) reports that among all can alcoholics eat food cooked with alcohol studies reviewed, there was a consistent association between higher acculturation and higher odds of drinking among women. Future research in this sample is needed to examine the mechanism by which acculturation leads to alcohol consumption among diverse Latinas in the U.S. One plausible explanation is the relationship of acculturative stress and alcohol use examined in other studies [32].
Research from 2013 found that 71% to 87% of social workers reported working with people facing the condition. Another common trope of many treatment programs is “you can’t help people if you’re not helping yourself,” an idea that isn’t quite compatible with someone who, for example, may be supporting their family financially. Many Western approaches to treating substance use emphasize an individual approach to treatment.
Acculturation refers to culture change and a transfer of values such as religious, social, and health values from one group to another. While the presence of other mental health conditions is not unique to the Latinx community, it may still contribute to high rates of SUDs. When data is reported, or studies are referenced, terminology from the original data source is used. Yet, 94.8% of those ages 12 and older who were classified as needing SUD treatment in a specialty facility like a hospital, mental health center, or an inpatient or outpatient rehabilitation facility didn’t receive such specialty care.
The 2020 National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) found that 12.7% of Hispanic or Latinx people ages 12 and older, or 6.2 million people, had a substance use disorder (SUD). Briefly, a stratified two-stage area probability sample of household addresses was selected in each of the four field centers. The first sampling stage randomly selected census block groups with stratification based on Hispanic/Latino concentration and proportion of high/low socio-economic status. National Prevention Week is also recognized by the SAMHSA and raises awareness about substance use prevention and positive mental health. Binge drinking is defined as “consuming 5 or more drinks on an occasion for men or 4 or more drinks on an occasion for women,” by the CDC.
Read Stories About Healthy Lifestyles
For some context, we briefly describe some characteristics of Maricopa County, Arizona, and Miami-Dade County, Florida which are the two communities of settlement included in the present study. In Maricopa County, approximately 31% of the population is Hispanic, 8.5% of the population is composed of immigrants from Latin America, 20% of adults report speaking Spanish at home, and 88.7% of Hispanics are of Mexican heritage (U.S. Census Bureau, 2017a, 2017b). Maricopa County has been described as a community where Hispanics often experience ethnic discrimination, hostility, and civil violations because of their real or perceived immigration status (American Civil Liberties Union of Arizona, 2019).
Procedure and Participants
“From 1992 through the present, Hispanic/Latino 8th graders have been roughly twice as likely to report binge drinking as non-Hispanic White 8th graders, and 3 times as likely as African American 8th graders,” according to a 2015 study. Increased drinking to cope with pandemic-related stressors, shifting alcohol policies, and disrupted treatment access are all possible contributing factors,” study authors wrote. It’s a common immigrant story – those who are born in this country are at greater risk for a series of bad health-related outcomes, compared with immigrants who were born elsewhere and moved here. Even as the medical community and society as a whole work to reimagine what treatment for substance use disorder looks like for the Latinx community, know that help is available and healing is possible. Below are three examples of interventions healthcare professionals may consider implementing to reduce barriers to care and improve treatment outcomes for the Latinx community facing SUD.
Study population and design
The long-term outcome of such a new generation of alcohol use prevention and treatment programs will reduce the prevalence of problematic alcohol use behavior which is the most pressing substance abuse problem confronting Latino immigrants nationwide. One of our moderation analysis indicated that gender did not moderate the association between acculturation orientations and alcohol use severity. One explanation for this null finding is that historically, men have reported higher rates for various alcohol use outcomes compared to women, but those differences are narrowing—particularly among emerging adults (Delker, Brown, & Hasin, 2016). In addition, it has been suggested that attitudes toward alcohol may now be very similar between male and female Hispanic emerging adults, and thus, acculturation may not have the same pronounced effect on drinking attitudes and alcohol use outcomes among Hispanic women (Montoya et al., 2016). Some post-hoc analyses of our data indicate that there were no statistically significant differences by gender in relation to acculturation orientations or alcohol use severity which may lend some support to this potential explanation.
- In Maricopa County, approximately 31% of the population is Hispanic, 8.5% of the population is composed of immigrants from Latin America, 20% of adults report speaking Spanish at home, and 88.7% of Hispanics are of Mexican heritage (U.S. Census Bureau, 2017a, 2017b).
- That’s not even including methadone clinics, of which many people do not even have a methadone clinic in their county,” Vakharia says.
- Role repertoire refers to one’s level of confidence in using or learning culturally appropriate behaviors in relation to both cultural groups (David et al., 2009).
Still, the scientists acknowledged that their study had limitations and more research is needed. Although the rates of substance abuse among Hispanic Americans do not differ from those of the overall U.S. population, there is a gap between Hispanics and the rest of the population when it comes to substance abuse treatment. With the Hispanic population expected to increase to over 30% of the population by 2050,2 it is imperative that we address any substance abuse and addiction treatment disparities currently experienced by these individuals. SAMHSA’s mission is to lead public health and service delivery efforts that promote mental health, prevent substance misuse, and provide treatments and supports to foster recovery while ensuring equitable access and better outcomes. Latino Americans represent the second-largest ethnic group in the U.S. (behind Caucasians) and were the fastest-growing group in 2015.
Alcohol Abuse Statistics For The Hispanic Community
The following salvia dosage chart limitations should be considered when interpreting the findings of this study. First, the present study utilized self-report measures that are susceptible to participant misrepresentation and error. Second, our assessment of acculturation was limited to linguistic acculturation and only two domains of bicultural self-efficacy were examined out of a possible six. Third, due to the cross-sectional design, the causal or directional ordering of associations found cannot be inferred.
While more Latinos have never had even one drink of alcohol than their white peers, more than 33% of these Latinos will have recurrent or persistent problems with alcohol compared, a higher rate than their white peers, according to a Salud America! Excessive consumption of alcohol rose 39% across all demographics in the same time frame, with Latina women being among the demographics with the largest increases in average consumption at 148%. Of past-year Latino American drinkers, 26% engaged in heavy drinking regularly (at least once a month). Communities from a variety of Central and South American countries have immigrated to the states over the years, bringing their unique traditions and culture.
Our study objective is to fill these important gaps in the available scientific literature by examining the prevalence and patterns of alcohol use in a large, diverse Hispanic/Latino sample residing in the U.S., including the relationship between alcohol use, sex, SES, and proxies of acculturation. Differences in drinking difference between na and aa patterns have been found to vastly differ by national origin (Vaeth et al., 2012). Despite recognition of the cultural differences that exist between distinct Latino national groups, most previous research on alcohol use among Latino immigrants has been conducted exclusively with Mexican immigrant populations (Borges et al., 2011; Worby & Organista, 2013). Fewer studies have examined alcohol use patterns among a diverse sample of Cuban, South American, and Central American immigrants (Sanchez et al., 2014). With increases in immigration from South and Central America (Noe-Bustamante, 2019), these national groups are becoming more representative of the overall Latino immigrant population in the US.
However, our findings need to be replicated and more studies are needed with more diverse Hispanic samples (e.g., ages, nativity) and inclusion of other bicultural self-efficacy domains. Based on the interaction we found between acculturation and bicultural self-efficacy—future studies should continue to examine how other sociocultural processes may influence bicultural self-efficacy in relation to substance use behavior. Using PROCESS v3.2 for SPSS (Hayes, 2017), moderation analyses were conducted with 50,000 bootstraps to examine the extent to which potential moderating variables influenced the direction and/or strength of respective associations with alcohol use severity. All moderation analyses controlled for all variables in the HMR model that were not included in respective interaction terms.
On the other hand, in Miami-Dade County, approximately 69% of the population is Hispanic, 50% of the population is composed of immigrants from Latin America, 67% of adults report speaking Spanish at home, and 53.6% of Hispanics are of Cuban heritage (U.S. Census Bureau, 2017b, 2017c). An example the demonstrates the cultural and economic interconnectedness between Miami-Dade County and Latin America is that Miami is often referred to as the “Gateway of the Americas” (National Tour Association, 2004). Acculturation, or the process of assimilating into a new culture, has also had clear effects on the drinking patterns of Hispanic Americans. Studies of U.S.-born Latino Americans show that as acculturation levels increase (such as speaking English and getting an American education), drinking levels increase too. Adolescents of Mexican parentage who have lived in the U.S. 11 years or more have significantly higher rates of alcohol abuse than those who have lived in the country for 10 years or less. Moreover, one study found that women who chose to complete a survey in English were twice as likely to drink alcohol than those who chose the Spanish version.
